Signed it. There is a space for a 500 character statement when you sign, which has got to be worth using to get further points across. This is my contribution:
There are a quarter of a million ME sufferers in the UK. The cost to the state of supporting us all in illness is surely more than the cost of treating us so that we can get on with our lives.

The NHS and NICE have no biomedical treatment options for us, and instead prescribe treatments that aggravate our condition (CBT/GET) Science is so close to understanding the causation of this physical disease, and yet the MRC only fund psychological research. The situation is wrong. Please change it

That description mentions "deconditioning" TWICE. And this is written by a carer? Bizarre. It also defines malaise as "fatigue" and tries to get sympathy for, out of all possible symptoms and complications, emotional lability and "muscle tension". An inept description which could have been written by the CBT school, or Phil parker. A part of any request for biomedical research must contain an explanation for why the current fashionable therapies are inappropriate, which this doesn't contain.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives you two rights of access when you write to us asking for information. You have the right to know whether we hold the information that you are looking for, and you have the right to have the information given to you. These rights may only be overridden if the information you are looking for is covered by an exemption in the Act.

Unfortunately, all of the information which you are looking for is covered by exemptions. This means that we cannot give you any of the information. We have set out details below of which exemptions we have applied and why.

Which exemption applies?:

Section 40 exemption: this section exempts personal information about a `third party (that is, someone other than the enquirer), if revealing it would break the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998, or if the person that the information relates to would not have a right to know about it or a right of access to it under that Act (because of its exemption provisions). The 1998 Act prevents personal information being released if, for example, it would be unfair or at odds with the reason why it was collected, or where the individual whom the information was about had properly served notice that releasing it would cause major and unnecessary damage or distress.

Why this exemption applies:

The Section 40 (2) exemption is therefore seen to be engaged towards the overwhelming majority of this file on the grounds that such is seen contain the personal sensitive data of named individuals who are believed to still be living. Whilst The National Archives is unable to comment on the specific nature of such information, it may confirm that such includes the medical details of named individuals. As such it would be considered unfair to these named parties were this material to be released into the public domain. Consequently it has been determined that the public interest is best served in this instance by ensuring that the personal sensitive information of living individuals is not released into the public domain against their reasonable expectations and that all such material is processed fairly and lawfully.

Which exemption applies?:

Section 41 exemption: this section exempts information from any other person if releasing it would mean breaking the terms of confidentiality in a way that is actionable by that or any other person.

Why this exemption applies:

Section 41 exemption: this section exempts information from any other person if releasing it would mean breaking the terms of confidentiality in a way that is actionable by that or any other person. The files contain opinions and information that was given in confidence and the release of which could be actionable.

If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our response to your request for information and/or wish to appeal against information being withheld from you please send full details within two calendar months of the date of this letter to:

The Quality Manager
Public Services Development Unit
The National Archives
Kew, Richmond
Surrey TW9 4DU

You have the right to ask the Information Commissioner (ICO) to investigate any aspect of your complaint. Please note that the ICO is likely to expect internal complaints procedures to have been exhausted before beginning his investigation.

If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,

If you go to these three URLs, below, scroll each page for content and then open all the links under Context on each of the three parent pages, and their child pages, there is information about the nature of some of the material archived:

Explanation These extracts contain information supplied in confidence by named individuals to the Medical Research Council in relation to applications for research grants and confidential discussions on the selection of candidates. It also contains medical information on named members of the public. The youngest person was aged at least 27 by 1997. The entire piece was previously closed for 50 years.

Exemption 2 Information provided in confidence

Explanation These extracts contain information supplied in confidence by named individuals to the Medical Research Council in relation to applications for research grants and confidential discussions on the selection of candidates. It also contains medical information on named members of the public. The youngest person was aged at least 27 by 1997. The entire piece was previously closed for 50 years.

to ianme this is simon benson,and i just want to explain about the petition to you because you seem to think i havent described the my illness correctly like im from a cbt school.for 8 years now i have been like every one else with cfs /me banging my head against a brick wall really with only gaining my own knowledge about this illness through forums ,web sites and support groups.so i apoligising for using the wrong wording like fatigue instead of malaise ,and muscle tension but this is the way it is descibed by most people who suffer with m.e.also i was only allowed to explain the petition in so many characters (500) which is why i havent gone into detail about biomedical research,and when we have enough signatures on the petition with help from a local support group it will be sent to my local mp with a full account of everything thats not acceptable with how cfs/me is being treated and researched etc up to date.so i apologise for not being overaly knowledged about our illness but i am only a patient who is trying to help our cause with limited resources,perhaps it would be better to support ,instead of pointing out petty mistakes i have made.to everyone else who has signed and supported this petition thank you so much it really means a lot ,it will be running for a good few months yet until i get thousands of signatures hopefully ,if we stop complaining about our illness the powers that be ,will think we have got better and forget about us so we must keep letting them know were still here.